As the NHL lockout rolls into its third week, hockey fans all around Colorado are left wondering how they can get their hockey fix.

For the hockey fan, looking for any kind of hockey, there is a new option. Over the summer, a new fish has come to town, one that loves cold so much that it strapped on skates and became a hockey team.

Coming to the Denver Colliseum on Oct. 19, adding to its storied 60 year history, is the Denver Cutthroats, the new Central Hockey League Team, coached by former NHL player Derek Armstrong, back with the game only a few years after retiring as a player.

“Hockey was my life for 35 years,” Armstrong said. “It’s extremely exciting for me (to be back).”

Armstrong says his team will work each day and try to put a competitive team on the ice each night.

“I expect to compete every night,” Armstrong said. “We’ll come to work every day.”
The Cutthroats understand that for the most hard core fan, hockey is not just a game; it is a way of life. For the hardcore fan, there is no such thing as too much hockey and the Cutthroats will provide a venue for the hardcore and casual fan alike to come down to the coliseum and see a fun and exciting product, a product that might include some Avalanche prospects, through their affiliation with the Cutthroats.
Armstrong has no say over who he will get from the Avs and their AHL affiliate, the Lake Erie Monsters, but fans will probably get to see at least one of the Avs’ newly-signed goaltending propsects, whether it will be Calvin Pickard, Kent Patterson, Sami Aittokallio or Kieran Millan. All four have signed with the Avs over the course of the past year and one or two of them might be sent to the Cutthroats to get their feet wet as prospects.

Aside from who they might get from Lake Erie, Armstrong says his team will have a lot of grit, a lot of character and solid defensive corps on the backend.

“We’re going to play with grit,” Armstrong said. “That’s what hockey’s all about.”

The Cutthroats will not be the Avalanche, nor are they trying to be. According to Armstrong, they are not trying to compete with the Avs, they are just trying to put an entertaining product out on the ice.

“We’re not going to compete with the Avalanche,” Armstrong said. “Not going to try to steal fans one bit.”

Even while the NHL and the players association negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement, there will be hockey played and the Cutthroats are ready and eager to start the season. Yet, even with that none of the players or coaches are hoping the NHL locks out, quite the contrary.

“We’re not cheering for it,” Armstrong said.

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